Ireland never at the races

After all that controversy, all those appeals, all that furore, Ireland’s 4x400m were well off the pace in their heat yesterday.

The team failed to progress, finishing sixth in 3:30.55 in a race they never looked like seriously contesting.

The USA team won, with Russia second and Great Britain third. All three qualified for the final automatically and were joined by Czech Republic, who finished fourth and progressed as a faster loser.

Ireland were always up against it, and would have had to beat their national record by some way if there were to have any hope of qualifying.

Marian Heffernan was first out for Ireland and struggled to keep up with the pace, making the handover to Joanne Cuddihy in last place.

Cuddihy did everything she could to drag Ireland back into the reckoning, bursting through the field and increasing her team’s standing by three places and she handed over to Jessie Barr in fifth. Barr did well to maintain the pace as the field spread out, but Michelle Carey, who ran the anchor leg, was reeled in by Patrycja Wyciszkiewicz of Poland as Ireland finished sixth.